Wood, William Arthur (Oral history)

British private served as dental technician with Army Dental Corps, No 32 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Army Medical Corps in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1945; served as medical assistant with No 32 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Army Medical Corps in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945-6/1945

REEL 1 Background in Huddersfield area, GB, 1923-1942: family; education; employment; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; German Air Force attacks on Huddersfield area, 1940-1942. Aspects of enlistment and training with Army Dental Corps in GB, 1942-1943: call-up for military training as dental technician, 1942; pattern of training in GB, 1942-1943. Aspects of period as dental technician with Army Dental Corps, No 32 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Army Medical Corps in GB, 1943-1944: preparations for landings in Normandy, France; role of Casualty Clearing Stations (CCS); duties and role; visit to Kingston upon Hull after bombing; in sealed camp at Upminster, 5/1944. Recollections of period as dental technician with Army Dental Corps, No 32 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Army Medical Corps in North West Europe, 6/1944-4/1945: crossing English Channel, 6/6/1944; sight of smoke screen off beaches, Normandy, France, 6/6/1944; landing on Sword Beach, Normandy, France, 7/6/1944; crossing village square under potential sniper fire; appearance and insignia of Royal Army Medical Corps personnel; rendering booby trapped revolver harmless on Sword Beach, Normandy, France. REEL 2 Continues: mining of party attempting to defecate; attitude of his officer towards Germans; heavy Polish and Canadian casualties from accidental US Army Air Force bombing near Caen, Normandy, France, 7/1944; problems of treating facial wounds sensitively; importance of interpreting eye conditions of patients rendered speechless; a gangrenous leg case; use of sulphanilamide powder and Lysol; German Waffen SS casualty who refused blood transfusion; case of German officer with shell shock; apprehensiveness of some German patients about treatment for dental abscesses; basing of unit at Goirle, Netherlands, 11/1944-4/1945; relations with Dutch civilians; entry into Germany. Recollections of period as medical assistant with No 32 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Army Medical Corps in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945-6/1945: how unit was diverted to camp, 17/4/1945. REEL 3 Continues: commanding officer's briefing; initial sight of condition of inmates; visit to former officer's mess to collect keys to laundry; use of DDT; his tasks on first day; impressing of Schutzstaffel (SS) troops to carry dead bodies; incident of Schutzstaffel (SS) man buried alive under dead bodies in pit; Schutzstaffel (SS) man who opened fire with tank machine gun on parade ground; duties in charge of mens ward; his work on womens block and gradual fall in death rate; language translation problems; how former female patients on ward made German nurses run the gauntlet and stole their clothes; background to contracting typhus; arrival of clothing and survivor's use of sanitary towels as shoulder pads. REEL 4 Continues: Soviet survivor who insisted on washing in oil rather than water; reaction of inmates to showing of film of liberation of camp; shooting of inmate by guard, 4/1945; his relations with former Hungarian guards; handling of German troops who refused to return to their lines; German Air Force attack on camp, 4/1945; description of camp; effect of work in camp; issue of rum ration; ceremonial burning down of last hut, 21/5/1945; reaction of German civilian party sent to view camp; children and maternity unit; recuperation period in Denmark, 6/1945-8/1945.